II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 557 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand tax-free distributions 

from individual retirement accounts for charitable purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 10, 2011 

Mr. SCHUMER (for himself, Ms. SNOWE, Mr. BURR, Mr. KERRY, Mr. BROWN

of Ohio, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota, Mr. PRYOR, Mr. 

LEAHY, and Mrs. GILLIBRAND) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand 

tax-free distributions from individual retirement accounts 

for charitable purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Public Good IRA Roll5 over Act of 2011’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. TAX-FREE DISTRIBUTIONS FROM INDIVIDUAL RE2 TIREMENT ACCOUNTS FOR CHARITABLE 

3 PURPOSES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (8) of section 408(d) 

5 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to tax 

6 treatment of distributions) is amended to read as follows: 

7 ‘‘(8) DISTRIBUTIONS FOR CHARITABLE PUR8 POSES.— 

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—No amount shall be 

10 includible in gross income by reason of a quali11 fied charitable distribution. 

12 ‘‘(B) QUALIFIED CHARITABLE DISTRIBU13 TION.—For purposes of this paragraph, the 

14 term ‘qualified charitable distribution’ means 

15 any distribution from an individual retirement 

16 account— 

17 ‘‘(i) which is made directly by the 

18 trustee— 

19 ‘‘(I) to an organization described 

20 in section 170(c), or 

21 ‘‘(II) to a split-interest entity, 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(ii) which is made on or after the 

24 date that the individual for whose benefit 

25 the account is maintained has attained— 


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1 ‘‘(I) in the case of any distribu2 tion described in clause (i)(I), age 

701 3 ⁄2, and 

4 ‘‘(II) in the case of any distribu5 tion described in clause (i)(II), age 

591 6 ⁄2. 

7 A distribution shall be treated as a qualified 

8 charitable distribution only to the extent that 

9 the distribution would be includible in gross in10 come without regard to subparagraph (A) and, 

11 in the case of a distribution to a split-interest 

12 entity, only if no person holds an income inter13 est in the amounts in the split-interest entity 

14 attributable to such distribution other than one 

15 or more of the following: the individual for 

16 whose benefit such account is maintained, the 

17 spouse of such individual, or any organization 

18 described in section 170(c). 

19 ‘‘(C) CONTRIBUTIONS MUST BE OTHER20 WISE DEDUCTIBLE.—For purposes of this para21 graph— 

22 ‘‘(i) DIRECT CONTRIBUTIONS.—A dis23 tribution to an organization described in 

24 section 170(c) shall be treated as a quali25 fied charitable distribution only if a deducVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:06 Mar 11, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S557.IS S557

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1 tion for the entire distribution would be al2 lowable under section 170 (determined 

3 without regard to subsection (b) thereof 

4 and this paragraph). 

5 ‘‘(ii) SPLIT-INTEREST GIFTS.—A dis6 tribution to a split-interest entity shall be 

7 treated as a qualified charitable distribu8 tion only if a deduction for the entire value 

9 of the interest in the distribution for the 

10 use of an organization described in section 

11 170(c) would be allowable under section 

12 170 (determined without regard to sub13 section (b) thereof and this paragraph). 

14 ‘‘(D) APPLICATION OF SECTION 72.—Not15 withstanding section 72, in determining the ex16 tent to which a distribution is a qualified chari17 table distribution, the entire amount of the dis18 tribution shall be treated as includible in gross 

19 income without regard to subparagraph (A) to 

20 the extent that such amount does not exceed 

21 the aggregate amount which would have been so 

22 includible if all amounts in all individual retire23 ment plans of the individual were distributed 

24 during the taxable year and all such plans were 

25 treated as 1 contract for purposes of deterVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:06 Mar 11, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S557.IS S557

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1 mining under section 72 the aggregate amount 

2 which would have been so includible. Proper ad3 justments shall be made in applying section 72 

4 to other distributions in such taxable year and 

5 subsequent taxable years. 

6 ‘‘(E) SPECIAL RULES FOR SPLIT-INTEREST

7 ENTITIES.— 

8 ‘‘(i) CHARITABLE REMAINDER

9 TRUSTS.—Notwithstanding section 664(b), 

10 distributions made from a trust described 

11 in subparagraph (G)(i) shall be treated as 

12 ordinary income in the hands of the bene13 ficiary to whom is paid the annuity de14 scribed in section 664(d)(1)(A) or the pay15 ment described in section 664(d)(2)(A). 

16 ‘‘(ii) POOLED INCOME FUNDS.—No 

17 amount shall be includible in the gross in18 come of a pooled income fund (as defined 

19 in subparagraph (G)(ii)) by reason of a 

20 qualified charitable distribution to such 

21 fund, and all distributions from the fund 

22 which are attributable to qualified chari23 table distributions shall be treated as ordi24 nary income to the beneficiary. 


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1 ‘‘(iii) CHARITABLE GIFT ANNU2 ITIES.—Qualified charitable distributions 

3 made for a charitable gift annuity shall not 

4 be treated as an investment in the con5 tract. 

6 ‘‘(F) DENIAL OF DEDUCTION.—Qualified 

7 charitable distributions shall not be taken into 

8 account in determining the deduction under sec9 tion 170. 

10 ‘‘(G) SPLIT-INTEREST ENTITY DEFINED.— 

11 For purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘split12 interest entity’ means— 

13 ‘‘(i) a charitable remainder annuity 

14 trust or a charitable remainder unitrust 

15 (as such terms are defined in section 

16 664(d)) which must be funded exclusively 

17 by qualified charitable distributions, 

18 ‘‘(ii) a pooled income fund (as defined 

19 in section 642(c)(5)), but only if the fund 

20 accounts separately for amounts attrib21 utable to qualified charitable distributions, 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(iii) a charitable gift annuity (as de24 fined in section 501(m)(5)).’’. 


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1 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

2 this section shall apply to distributions made in taxable 

3 years beginning after December 31, 2010. 

Æ 


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